The true essence of Aikido and Budo - learning progress and misinterpretation

In my previous blogs that I published, I wrote about “what is Aikido” and also why it is a great martial art that brings piece, harmony and also the martial aspect together. In this blog, I want to dive a bit more into some of the experiences that I made between different dojos and also teacher. This is also a great opportunity to write down some of my experiences that I made recently and that I wanted to bring on digital paper.

Let us start at first on why there are no styles in Aikido?

If you train long enough Aikido or any other budo and martial art, you may have realized that after understanding most of the basics and going for many years into an “intermediate” mode, you might develop your own view and understanding of certain techniques, katas or even Ukemi (more or less this means falling techniques). It Is very important to not mix this up and being confused with “styles” of Aikido as there are no 'styles' of Aikido. It is like music. You can cut pieces of a melody or change the lyrics or the song itself… but at the end of the day, it is still music that you are listening to. This is in some way also similar to Aikido.

Aikido was originally developed by one man, O Sensei. Many students who trained under O Sensei have opened their own dojos to spread their knowledge of Aikido. Due to the dynamic nature of Aikido among other factors, students of O Sensei have interpreted his Aikido differently and shared their best knowledge of what they have acquired from O Sensei to the next generation. This is still true in our current generation of Aikidokas. A teacher who had also been a student before is teaching his students a variation of Aikido that his teacher had. A student naturally develops a slightly different version of Aikido from the teacher over the years.

However, believe it or not, there are many teachers in Aikido that I had the chance to train with, expect all students to only have the same exact Aikido that they have. This might be not a problem if you had only trained in a single dojo your entire life, the same one that you joined and grew up with. It might be also not a problem for students that are still beginner level, but it might become a problem for many who have trained in more than 1 dojo and are already “intermediate” in their development over the years. This by the way is a very common challenge for students who moved to different countries, regions, or cities for professional or personal reasons. My experience is that some dojos accept differences, but many do not and create with that a divided dojo for students. Based on my experience, I feel that this lack of understanding in the dynamic nature of Aikido which is the very essence of Aikido, has created a glass ceiling for students who had been trained in different dojos. A glass ceiling which should not have existed in the very place if dojos have fully embraced the art of Aikido.

Recently I joined a great Aikido training from someone who visited the Seattle area from Tokyo, Japan. The training was phenomenal great and next to many techniques that we went through, Sensei also explained that there are different background and all are accepted, he as teacher might only be able to provide another perspective to students. I also found it extremely interesting when Sensei mentioned that some Aikidoka and even teacher only following their own “star” in learning and teaching Aikido, but forget where it comes from and what the real gal in Aikido is.

One of the challenges that I have been experiencing was that some Aikido trainers measure strictly the students’ progress on hours instead of looking into skill level of the individual student. It is almost the same compared if you are moving from another country where you had financial history but in your new place nobody believes that you are capable in managing your finances in the last 20 years – so you simply just start all over again.

I believe that Aikido, like any other art forms, not everyone progresses at the same rate. Some students will progress faster than others; some a little slower; some have the potential to be a teacher to the next generation of students. In my opinion, I do not support or believe in the strict concept of hours as the only criteria of progress. In fact, personally I believe that to be only measured in hours has artificially restrained the way of Aikido. I believe it is a simplified way to measure effort, quality, and progress of the students, adopting a system used by the western- or modern world.

Think about it for a moment… Is progress not something that should be also measured by talent, dedication and progress through learning and passion? Or should it be just a number to fit everyone in a bucket? Whether or not if you reached your 200 or 400 hours in order to progress to the next level so that you can receive sponsorship by your teacher?

Progressing itself is a sensible topic. If we train Aikido and see it as a lifelong learning, Dan and Kyu grades and belts are meaningless. However, if you are trying to go through the stages and see a “Dan” as a grade of your personal development, personality, progress through life and also the opportunity to teach and provide knowledge to others, it becomes a much more important topic. The progress in Aikido is not a belt or even the time that you are training itself. In my understanding the goal is to feel and breath budo and what Aikido provides. It is something that is very difficult to explain, maybe even impossible but the closest understanding that I can share is that I believe the goal is to understand Aikido as a way of harmony and lifestyle that you bring into any aspect of your life. It is something that you bring in in the way how you accept life and death, humanity as equal, how you thread others and your environment, how you live in balance and how you avoid the aggression, fighting, unfairness and suffering of others around you. And of course, how you live in piece in our hectic world.

Because of all those reasons, I believe that measuring people based on just hours is something that comes very close to the same topic why I believe the world is as it is. We measure people or better human resources based on the management of objects, commitment settings, reviews, metrics and data and scorecards. This all is important in business and can be very true for the commercial world. However, this also creates sometimes negative competition which can cause unnecessary conflicts, fear, unfairness, frustration and politics in most organizations, groups and teams. I’m sharing this not only from the perspective in Aikido but also as someone who has been highly successful in the industry, including my both master degrees in strategic management and change management.

So back to point - the same that I’m describing above also can influence negatively Aikido and Budo.

I know teachers are not perfect. Favoritism exist but shouldn’t teachers of Aikido and martial arts be above this? Some teachers I met have built a small circle of students who get all their attention and support in terms of progressing. I observed that others who have trained intensively and attend the training regularly do not get the equal and fair attention and support of the teacher. Some teachers have also selectively excluded students from the opportunity to progress and it is their right. Is this not a form of discrimination? Based on what I have seen over many years in budo and also my recent experience I believe that unfortunately a form of discrimination of background, perspective and understanding of Aikido as an art exists.

Furthermore, in my experience this form of in dojo competition can create great suffering and negative energy in a dojo. This is one of the reasons why there are no matches in Aikido or why there are no Aikido fights and duels on TV – it would absolutely represent the values wrongly that this beautiful art focuses on.

Look at how much suffering exist on this planet and in our generation, mostly because competition, arrogance, selfishness, insecurity among people. Every time when people want to belong in the right “group”, because the feel for any reasons to belong there and more important or “right” than others, it creates suffering and disharmony on the other end.

My belief is that Aikido has to be free from all of these things. Aikido and Budo has to be a way that offers equality and appreciation for dedication. It has to be a place where everyone can learn, come, enjoy and progress, not only the teachers favorites or those who copy the teachers “style” in the best way. It also has to be a place where progress so as background and different understanding is something that is appreciated and welcome. If Aikido is really to develop ourselves through life, then we mostly will not have all a same way in doing techniques or ukemi. It will be also not the same in terms of how we thread and accept others but with the progress and few “aha” moments in your learning progress, it should be absolutely to goal to progress as person and in your Aikido techniques and later to be selfless and to support others on the way.

If you don’t know anything about Aikido – I invite you to go to a dojo and watch the training or even better, try a class. If you are already into Aikido or even a teacher, maybe this blog post reminds your experience. Aikido is not about your understanding and style of Aikido, it is about acceptance of others, teaching and guiding others and not about your own ego or that everyone has to strictly follow your opinion.

Aikido is a way of investment to be a better person, to be a better individual in our society. We are not measured in terms of hours, whether you are worthy to progress, worthy of the art or later on sharing and teaching itself. I strongly encourage you to get to know this beautiful art, to grow and learn hopefully in a way that O Sensei had in mind, especially at a time where love, piece, fairness, support and equality seem to be forgotten.